Lately I’ve found I need to deliberately steer my ship, paddling hard in the direction of joy. This pandemic has upended nearly everything in our daily lives and the poor leadership at the federal level has exacerbated the situation. The dire predictions are coming true and there’s a hopeless feeling that there’s not much we can do except stay inside and wait. And yet we have to keep on living. So I’ve been actively looking for things we can do that bring joy. Earlier this week, the sun was shining, my husband had a break between meetings, my daughter’s classes weren’t until later, and I put down my soldering iron and took a break. My daughter’s cat, Gus, enjoys getting out too so we loaded her into her backpack and went to Cheesequake State Park for a little hike. Just feeling the breeze on our faces and the sunshine on our shoulders left us all refreshed and calmer. We had packed a picnic but it was a bit cold so we ended up eating it in the car while we talked and laughed. It doesn’t sound like much but the change of venue and fresh air helped tremendously. I hope you are finding the little things each day that bring you a bit of joy. Stay well and healthy— mentally and physically.